


The Best is Yet to Come

by thorleesi



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-04
Updated: 2013-08-05
Packaged: 2017-12-22 08:58:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/911343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thorleesi/pseuds/thorleesi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>April can't help but feel jealous as she watches Jackson leave with his intern date that she set him up with. Now here she is, stuck at a brideless reception taking advantage of the open bar all alone. Set after 9x09</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alex took another swig of his beer and glanced around the room. Most of Bailey’s family had left the reception area, presumably to go off and search for the missing bride. It was Yang who figured out she was at the hospital. In Alex’s opinion it should have been the first place they looked before everyone jumped to conclusions and Ben went on his little rampage. Once Adele’s condition had been revealed he, along with Meredith and a handful of others dashed back to Seattle Grace but Alex decided to stick around the reception. Maybe Bailey had a hot cousin.

He slouched in his seat and stared at the red tablecloth and sickeningly festive centrepiece. The intern sat across from him, glaring. Alex sneered at her. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Avery and Edwards chatting it up and flirting at the half empty round table next to them.

“That didn’t take long,” he mumbled to himself and took another drink.

“Shut up, Stephanie is great,” Jo said.

Alex rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know. I requested her on my service but she chose Yang so I got stuck with you.”

“Whatever,” she said and stood abruptly from the table, “I’m cabbing home.”

“Good riddance,” he muttered under his breath as she left his peripheral vision. The dance floor was empty, save for a handful of kids and a really elderly couple dancing to the swing band Ben hired. The reception hall was slowly emptying and Alex considered joining in and just cabbing it himself. From what he could see Jackson wasn’t going to be leaving alone.

“Aw, your date left,” April plopped down into the chair next to him clumsily.

“So did yours,”Alex bit back a snarky remark, “and she wasn’t my date, just an idiot intern.”

“He left already. Said he didn’t feel comfortable sticking around for a reception with no bride or groom,” Kepner said, “and she can’t be that bad.”

“She’s violent with patients, abrasive and I generally can’t stand to be around her,” he grumbled.

April gave him a weird look. “You don’t see it, do you?”

“See what?”

“Oh my God, she’s _you,_ ” April laughed, “she’s literally you like, three years ago.”

He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “She is not,” he insisted.

Alex waited for a quick retort but Kepner remained silent. He followed her gaze past Avery’s now empty table, to Avery himself leaving the reception hall with his hand on the small of the intern’s back. He tried to find some comforting words to offer but he had nothing so Alex maintained the awkward silence that fell between them.

As if synchronised, both raised their drinks to find them empty. “I’ll go get the next round,” April mumbled staring at her empty glass, “they’ll probably be shutting the bar down soon.” She shuffled off before he could say anything.

The comforting notes of the band beginning the song _“The Way You Look Tonight”_ reached his ears and he tapped a few of his fingers along. When April returned to the table and set down the drinks, he jumped up for his chair. Alex offered her his hand.

She glanced at his hand and back up at him, a confused smile adorning her face. “What are you doing?”

“Just come on,” he rolled his eyes. Kepner timidly took his hand and was led out onto the dance floor. The kids had dissipated after the last upbeat song ended, so it was just them and the elderly couple left. April gingerly placed one hand on his shoulder and felt goosebumps when Alex placed his on her back.

“I didn’t know you danced,” she said, breaking the silence.

Alex shrugged. “Shut up and dance,” he said. Mostly he didn’t want to have to explain he learned to dance as a surprise for Izzie. He was going to take her out for a fancy night of dancing and drinks but she left Seattle three days before he had planned their romantic evening.

They swayed casually, nothing elaborate or anything, just allowing their minds to wander and enjoy the music. Alex wouldn’t admit it to anyone but he loved jazz and swing, and was determined to get the contact information of the band in case he ever needed to hire them for a large event. Maybe another wedding if it ever came up.

Somehow throughout the song, the pair had inched closer together. Alex could smell the alcohol on her breath mingling with a light peach-y smell, presumably some hair product or something. He cringed when he realized aside from a layer of deodorant from the morning, he hadn’t put on anything to cover up his natural body smells. April could tell. It wasn’t particularly strong but his mansweat found its way to her nostrils. She didn’t mind too much.

The band played out the last few notes of the song and the lead singer announced because there was no reception, the hotel was preparing to take down the event. April looked up at Alex and smiled.

“Thank you,” she said.

He shrugged. “Whatever.”

“You can let go of my hand now,” April suggested. He dropped her hand suddenly and took a step back.

“I’ll call a cab. I came with Avery and neither of us should be driving,” he said.

April nodded in agreement. “There’s hope for Wilson,” she said softly.

“Huh?” he grunted.

“I mean, if she’s you a few years ago…just look at how you turned out. There’s hope for her yet,” April said and offered a shy smile before returning to the table to retrieve her clutch. She pulled out her phone and dialled the cab company.

The cab ride wasn’t a long one and before she knew it she was on the sidewalk in front of her apartment building. April flicked the lights on and walked over to her docking station, spinning the little white circle on her old iPod until she reached her Michael Buble playlist. She was in a jazz-y kind of mood tonight.

 _Sway_ started playing as she unzipped her dress, dancing while she pulled it off. Before April knew it she was dancing around her apartment in her underwear. She hated to admit it, but she wore her lacy black and purple ones, just in case something happened with Jackson. Who was she kidding…she was 100% sure they were going to hook up in the coat room despite their dates.  April cringed just thinking about what Jackson and Edwards were doing at that moment.

The iPod switched songs and _The Way You Look Tonight_ came floating out of her speakers. She smiled to herself and picked up her dress from the floor to put back in her closet. April found herself humming along. As she reached to put the dress back in its place, she caught a whiff of Alex’s musky mansweat smell and her stomach fluttered precariously. For a moment she held the hanger in midair, remembering the lovely dance she had with a lovely man.

Suddenly her eyes flew wide open and she tossed the hanger into the closet as if it burned her hand. The dress landed on the floor and crumpled, but April paid no mind. She slammed the door shut and retreated to her bed, staring at her closet in horror. Her calves hit her mattress and she half sat, half fell on her freshly washed sheets.

“Oh no,” she said and her hands flew up to the sides of her temples, “this is not happening, this is not happening, this. Is. Not. Happening.”

Her heart was beating wildly in her chest and she felt her cheeks flush. “Oh no,” she moaned and flopped down onto her pillow. Maybe she could suffocate herself.

As she contemplated the repercussions of throwing herself off the top of the hospital, her phone started buzzing from her clutch. Reluctantly she pulled herself off her bed to check her phone.

It was a short text from Meredith.

_Adele died in OR. Having thing for Webber at Joe’s. Come._

April stared longingly at her sweatpants hanging out of the drawer for a moment before taking a deep breath and pulling her only black dress from her closet. After pulling it on and seeing her reflection in the mirror she worried it would be too casual or depressing. Meredith didn’t exactly provide a dress code. Was it a wake type situation? Was it a celebration of life? Should she be wearing something peppy? April frowned and decided she was overthinking things again. Joe’s wasn’t far from her place so she opted to walk there. The whether wasn’t too bad, a little chilly but nothing she couldn’t handle.

Joe’s bar was packed when she arrived. She recognized most of the people there from the hospital, the majority of them had taken the day off to go to the wedding but had somehow ended right back at Joe’s. April pushed her way over to the bar. On one end she saw Jackson and Stephanie wearing the same attire (albeit crumpled attire) they wore to the wedding. April wrinkled her nose at the thought of them doing it in his car. “Ew,” she shook her head hoping the thoughts would fly out.

At the other end Alex sat alone. Her stomach fluttered again. “Shh, stop it,” she instructed to her middle. A nurse passing by gave her a strange look and April smiled at her until she was out of sight. She didn’t spot Meredith or Cristina so she shuffled over to Alex somewhat reluctantly and sat on the barstool beside him.

“Well,” she said nervously, “this feels familiar.” She nodded to the other end of the bar where Jackson had started making out with the intern.

Alex stared at his bottle of beer, once again at a loss for words.

“Do you think he’s doing it to bother me?” April asked with a slight frown. They were really going at it. “Honestly is that seriously appropriate behaviour for a wake?”

“Is this a wake?” Alex said, “Mer just said to come, so I’m here. And who cares what Avery does, you’re broken up, right?”

April nodded.

“So, do you want to get back together?”

“I-no…? I don’t think so,” she said.

“Then let him live his life and you live yours, you can’t just lay claim to a guy then do nothing about it,” he pulled the label off his beer.

“But-”

“For God’s sake Kepner, stop whining!” he said.

She was taken aback. This wasn’t the same Alex from earlier. “I liked you better when you were dancing,” she glared.

“Same goes for me because you _weren’t talking,”_ he downed the rest of his drink and left.

She watched him walk out the door. “That makes things easier,” she said quietly to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

April watched from her spot at the nurse’s station. Jackson’s smile was playful and flirty as he talked to Edwards, his intern date from the wedding. She watched the two part was and hastily flipped through a chart when he approached her.

“Oh hey!” her pitch jumped up several octaves, “Jackson. Hey…”

“You can stop glaring any time now,” he suggested.

“I wasn’t…glaring. It’s just…the wedding is over, you don’t have to be her date anymore,” April said and pretended to be super interested in the chart.

“Stephanie’s nice. She’s smart, she’s funny and she’s respectful so yeah, I think I’d like to be her date for a little longer,” he said.

“She’s Stephanie now?” April’s heart dropped suddenly in her chest.

“Yeah, thanks for setting us up. Really, I’m glad we did the whole other dates thing,” Jackson’s smile was friendly but April could feel hers threatening to crack her face in half.

“No-no problem. I’m glad we’re uh, on the same page,” she said weakly.

“Could I just grab…” he reached through her arms for the chart she was holding. April blushed and pushed it into his grasp. “Thanks. I’ll see you later,” Jackson said and headed to the elevator.

April wanted to collapse in a pile of humiliation right in the middle of the floor. The day went by unbearably slowly. It was another Bump and Lump day, except this time Ross was on Meredith’s service so April was out an intern.

As well as being a slow day at the hospital, it was a quiet one. The staff were sombre; Adele was beloved at Seattle Grace and would be missed terribly. The end of the day approached and April headed towards the attending’s’ locker room to get changed. She was going to stop off and grab a bottle of wine before heading home and watching sappy romantic Christmas movies.

April was pulled out of her planning for the night by shouting coming from around the corner to her left.  She paused for a moment, deciding whether or not to investigate or keep to herself.

“I’m tired of your bullshit Wilson!” she recognized Alex’s voice. 

With a sigh, she turned left and found exactly what she expected. Alex and Jo were squaring off and she was about to jump right into the middle of it.

“Dr. Karev, why are you yelling at your intern,” April asked. She was too tired for his immaturity.

“Genius here almost killed my patient,” he motioned to Dr. Wilson, who was giving him the dirtiest look April had ever seen.

“Oh please! He wasn’t even close to dying, you’re exaggerating and trying to get me to take the fall again,” Jo said.

Alex sneered, “He was _coding,_ that means he was _dying._ ”

“Oh for goodness sake Karev, _back off._ She’s an intern,” April growled, “And _you,_ part of being a surgeon is acknowledging your mistakes and _learning_ from them. He coded, it was your fault, you messed up. Figure out what you did wrong and _don’t do it again_. If I catch you in a screaming match in this hospital again I am reporting you directly to Hunt and you will be removed from the program. I heard about the stunt you pulled when you physically assaulted the mother of one of your patients – consider this your strike two.”

Jo glared at her but April refused to look away. She was the attending here – she outranked her. “Yes Dr. Kepner,” Wilson said, not even attempting to hide her attitude.

“Starting right now you are off Dr. Karev’s service and on mine. I have some outpatient paperwork at the nurses’ station down the hall. Go take care of it before you leave tonight,” April instructed. Wilson didn’t even respond, she just pushed past  her down the hall.

“I was taking care of it,” Alex mumbled.

“Don’t even get me started on you,” April snapped.

“Whatever,” he said.

April rolled her eyes, “ _Not_ whatever. Honestly, what do you think you’re doing here, is this your twisted way of trying to teach her? Grow up Alex, and keep away from her for a while until you cool down. God, you’re a child,” she shook her head in disgust, “I know I said she was you a few years ago, but that wasn’t true. You two are literally the same person.”

“That’s not fair,” he said and leaned against the wall. He looked tired.

April studied him for a moment. There were dark circles under his eyes and his whole demeanor screamed exhausted. “What is going on with you Alex?” she asked softly.

Alex rubbed his eyes with one hand and shrugged. “Nothing, everything’s great except for this pain in the ass intern,” he said.

“That can’t be the only thing,” April prodded.

“Well it is,” his voice was curt and she knew she was pushing her luck.

“Fine you don’t have to talk, but drinks are on me at Joe’s tonight,” she said, immediately regretting it. April was already missing her sappy movies and bottle of wine tonight and once again she was putting someone else first. She sighed, “you look like you could use one.”

When he didn’t respond, April walked away vowing she would wait forty five minutes tops at Joe’s for him to show up.

But an hour and a half later she was still sitting alone at the bar. In the past she would have had Reed, or Lexie, or Jackson, or Meredith to keep her company but lately there’s been no one else on account of having a family, getting laid and of course being dead.

She contemplated leaving several times but each time she decided to stay. Being alone at the bar seemed to be the least depressing option when compared to what she had planned for herself tonight.  April ordered another drink when Alex finally sat down beside her.

“Well look who finally decided to show up,” she said and rolled her eyes.

“Relax Kepner, I had a phone call that took a while. I didn’t stand you up,” he said as Joe placed a beer in front of him.

April laughed awkwardly wondering if accidentally ask Alex on a date, then wondering if it would be all that bad if she did.

“I’m just here for the free drinks,” Alex said. Well, that cleared things up.

She cleared her throat uncomfortably. “So…”

“My house is empty,” Alex said, suddenly very interested in the back of his left hand, “I have nothing to fill it with.”

April was taken aback. She did not expect him to open up like that, especially completely sober. “Are you,” she paused, trying to process what he just said, “are you saying that you’re…lonely?”

“What? No, you moron,” he said, “My house is literally empty. I lived in an apartment, I have no furniture.”

“I’m confused,” she tilted her head slightly.

“Well I’m not going to ask Yang to help,” he shrugged and took a drink of his beer.

“So you’re asking me to help you decorate,” she said, watching him carefully to see if she was on the right track or not.

“Duh,” Alex said. 

“Nothing is ‘duh’ with you Karev!” April shook her head, “Having a conversation with you is like playing a freaking game of Charades.”

“Are you going to help or not?” Alex asked, clearly annoyed with having to ask her for assistance in decorating.

“Fine,” she said and sat up a little straighter on the barstool, “I have Friday off. Pick me up at 8am and we’ll go to the Ikea on Renton, then that hardware store down the street for some paint.”

Alex shot her a look. “I’m not going with you,” he said.

“What do you mean you’re ‘not going with me’? This is _your_ house. I’m not decorating your own house for you!” she could feel her pitch rising as the words flew out of her mouth.

“If I wanted to do it myself I wouldn’t have asked you,” Alex explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“Then hire a decorator!” April said and saw him wince at the octave her voice was reaching.

Alex scoffed. “I’m not paying for someone else to do it when you just said you would.”

“I said I would _help._ I did _not_ say I would do it for you. My offer still stands - pick me up on Friday and I will _help_ you decorate your home. If not, bite me,” she said and finished her drink. April collected her purse, threw down some cash to pay for her drinks and his, and made her way through the crowd towards the door. She would not let him walk all over her like this.

“Kepner,” she heard him call from the bar, “I have a surgery that I have can’t push back so we’ll do it on Thursday instead.”

April smiled to herself and continued out the door.

 

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

“This is going to be in your house Karev, you have to have some opinion on it,” April showed him yet another curtain from the wall, “All I’m asking for is a smile, a nod, I’ll even settle for a grunt!”

“I don’t care - it’s fabric to go over my windows. Whatever, just decorate it how you would do your house,” he said, clearly as exasperated as she was.

April rolled her eyes. “I can’t decorate how I would for my place because it is _your_ house and I honestly don’t picture you as the kind of guy with a lot of pastel pink and green and floral patterns with nice light colours like the Easter Bunny threw up all over your walls!”

“Fine, that one,” he pointed to a solid navy blue display.

April made a face. “This one? Really? It’s kind of…boring,” she said.

“Perfect! It gets me because _I am bored out of my mind._ You even said it yourself, ‘how you decorate your home is a reflection of who you are as a person’” Alex used his best April imitation.

“That’s not funny – you’re not funny. I am one more snarky comment away from walking out of here and letting you fend for yourself…like that monkey from Toronto,” she said and wrote down the information from the tag attached to the curtain Alex picked.

“Dude, don’t compare me to the monkey,” he said, crossing his arms.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t compare you to the Ikea monkey,” April started walking through to the next section, “It’s no contest really, the monkey is like a billion times cuter.”

“Oh haha that’s so clever,” Alex rolled his eyes.

“Ugh alright, let’s wrap up here and go pick up the paint from the hardware store around the corner. I’m done your whining and frankly I’m tired of the other moms staring because I’m the only one not in control of their _child,_ ” she said and let that sink in a moment.

It didn’t land quite as she anticipated. Alex shrugged and pointed to the well mannered little boy down the aisle “He’s only behaving ‘cause his mom gave him a cookie. I didn’t get a cookie, you should really take notes.”

April crinkled her nose and pursed her lips, gears turning rapidly searching for an appropriate response. “Fine. Next time I will bring a cookie,” she gritted out between her teeth highly dissatisfied with her lack of snark.

Twenty minutes later they were walking out of the tiny hardware store, arms full with various colours of paint cans to redecorate the house with.

“We’ll keep the living room the same colour,” she explained to a zoned out Alex in the store, “same with the office and the one spare bedroom, they’re pretty decent colours for now. Yang can do whatever she wants with the other one ‘til she moves out.” Naturally Karev just shrugged and followed her through the aisles and pouted everytime April asked one of the employees their opinions.

Alex watched April load up the car with several cans of paint while munching on a sandwich he picked up from the deli they were parked in front of.

“You are such a pain,” she glared and slammed the trunk shut. He shrugged and jumped into the driver’s seat, dropping his half eaten sandwich into the cup holder. April slid into the passenger’s seat and wrinkled her nose at the smell.

“How much onion is on that, gross,” April cracked the window, “eat a mint or something at least.”

Alex leaned over and exhaled loudly in her direction.

“You are disgusting and I hate you.”

At the very least Alex helped unpack the car when they got back to the house while April laid out a sheet over the floor in on the spare bedrooms to prepare covering the walls in primer. He tossed her a roller and poured the liquid into the pan.

They painted in silence for a few moments, April hyperaware that this room used to be where Izzie Stevens lived.

“How would you decorate it?” Alex asked casually, rolling primer on the wall methodically.

“What? This room?”

He shrugged. “Both.”

“Oh! Well…I guess in the master I wouldn’t make it as dark. I’d go with a light green on the walls, white bedroom set but with pink accented throughout the room like I found this really cute floral pink lampshade-”

“Gross,” Alex interrupted.

“Well it’s a good thing I didn’t decorate it for me, isn’t it?” she rolled her eyes. “These rooms I’d make pretty neutral, maybe that yellow sorbet colour I was looking at in the store and a different green in Cristina’s room. Although a light brown might be nice and simple, kind of like the colour that we picked for the office but a little…softer,” she babbled.

“Neutral,” he chuckled. “You mean gender neutral?”

“Maybe…it’s a big house. A family house. A house _completely_ wasted on you,” April pressed her roller to the wall with more force than necessary. She wasn’t likely to admit it, but she always loved Mer’s house. It was a great layout, a nice neighbourhood that was close to the hospital and absolutely perfect for a family. Not for Alex parading women through and Cristina sleeping with her almost ex-husband.

“Who says I don’t want a family?” Alex stopped covering the wall with the white primer.

“You just don’t throw off a family vibe,” April said slowly. “…is that something you want?”

Alex shrugged and went back to painting. “Sure. Yeah, I guess.”

“Oh,” she said. “I can see that, you’re really good with kids.”

“Izzie really wanted kids,” he said, “we were going to have a whole herd of tiny blonde humans together.”

April wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “I uh, I thought I was going to have Jackson’s babies. I wanted so badly for him to be the guy I spend the rest of my life with.”

“Was it because of Jesus or because you loved him?” Alex asked bluntly, eager to blow past his remark about Izzie.

She paused for a moment to consider. “Both, I think. Wouldn’t that have worked out so perfectly?” April laughed.

“Eh, you don’t want Avery’s offspring anyways. He’s a decent surgeon but let’s face it, the guy doesn’t live up to the family name,” he assured her.

“Be nice,” April admonished.

“You’d be out of the running for the Harper Avery too.”

She shot him a look. “Karev, I’m the crazy girl who failed her boards, I’m not going to win a Harper Avery.”

“Maybe not, but you’d be in the running,” he offered with a half smile.

“No way, _Grey_ is going to win the Avery. Torres, Robbins, Bailey, Yang, hell, even _you_  have a better chance at winning than I do. I’m very good at what I do, but not Harper Avery good,” April grimaced. She hated admitting that she was subpar.

“It’s not just about the medicine. What about the checklists you had the hospital implement? That has probably saved more lives than we realize,” Alex said and moved on to the next wall.

“Yeah, after I killed a woman with my incompetence,” she said.

“Stop being so hard on yourself, you’re a fighter Kepner. You have something none of the other surgeons I know have,” he leaned against a dry part of the wall.

April raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what would that be?”

“You’ve got me as a friend,” he laughed and cracked a smile.

She rolled her eyes. “And here I thought we were having our most civil conversation ever.”

“Yeah, the lack of shrieking was nice,” he joked. Despite his back being turned to her she could tell he had a stupid smug grin on his dumb face.

April glared. She dunked her roller in paint and stormed over to his side of the room. “Hey, Karev?”

“We’re done talking about our feelings Kepner. Get back to painting, we’re just about finished for today,” Alex said and turned around.

Without hesitation she shoved her roller in his face and rolled up to his forehead and down to his neck. The stunned looked on his face was priceless, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Seriously Kepner?” he asked and wiped some primer out of his nose. “You’re on.”

Before she could react his roller landed on her cheek and April could feel the paint sticking to her face.

“Ew!” she shrieked and swung her arm wildly trying to land another hit on Alex while facing the other way.

Using a simple wrestling take down he quickly had April on the floor. The two doctors were in a stalemate – with one hand rollers straining to meet each other’s’ faces and the other preventing any more paint to be applied.

April was only inches away from Alex’s face and she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks again. He took advantage of her distraction to roll primer on the clean side of her face.

“Ha!” he said and lay back laughing. April lay beside him breathlessly, but she couldn’t help but laugh along with him. It was infectious.

 


End file.
